Trotz enters the Corsi debate

Predators coach Barry Trotz dropped in on the advanced stats debate when asked about the merits of center Paul Gaustad.

“His Corsi stat is probably not real great because he starts in our end the whole time,” Trotz said. “But he’s a real important part of our success.”

Corsi is a metric that tracks on-ice shot differential (goals plus saves plus missed shots plus blocks). The theory is that shows into a player’s ability to possess the puck in the offensive zone — since those numbers occur in an attacking area.

It’s interesting that Trotz would enter the Corsi debate unsolicited. In my years covering the Predators, I don’t think I’ve heard a coach bring it up without a direct question about the metric. Also, Gaustad is a player whose value has been debated, and numbers don’t equal his importance.

Indeed, Gaustad, who has three years left on a four year $9.2 million contract, doesn’t have great Corsi numbers. He is a minus 2.13. But that’s pretty decent when you see he starts in the offensive zone 23.2 percent of the time. He finishes in the offensive zone 45.7 percent of the time. You can find his numbers on behindthenet.ca.

He has also never scored more than 12 goals in a season. But the Predators didn’t pay him to be a scorer. They gave him that contract to win face offs, which he has at a 68.4 percent clip this year. Nashville believes Gaustad’s face offs help its puck possession stats.

This goes to show that sometimes teams look at more numbers than we think they do.